Her Miracle
by Swaying Cherry Blossoms
Summary: AU: I am Kyo Sohma, and I am about to tell you my story. I will tell you now, in advance, that although you will be guaranteed to smile as you read this, you will also cry. Based on the novel and movie A Walk To Remember. Kyoru.
1. Prologue

Hey guys, I'm back with another story! Unlike my other one, which was an idea I had come up with myself, this new story is a merge of the book and movie A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks. I'm also adding some of my own ideas into also, just for creativity purposes (my first step was giving it my own title). I've only seen this done twice with a Kyo x Tohru pairing, but both stories have never been completed, so I'd like to finally write one that _will _be completed. I am starting off with a whole new different writing style that I tend to keep throughout the whole story, and I hope I can hold on to it for my other upcoming ones as well. If you have only read A Walk To Remember but have never seen the movie (or vice versa, which is more common), let me just tell you that they're both really different. For one thing, the movie takes place in our time, not back in nineteen-fifty-nine like the book took place (it's going to be nineteen-sixty-six in this story since that's forty years ago from this year; Nicholas Sparks wrote the book in nineteen-ninety-nine, so it would make sense that forty years from then would be nineteen-fifty-nine), and the scenes and everything are pretty different. To make it interesting, I'm going to combine them all into one story–and add my own ideas–so all of you A Walk To Remember and Fruits Basket fans can enjoy it! Besides Kyo and Tohru being in the story, a lot of the other Sohmas are going to have roles too. And since I'm going to keep them all in character, it should really make the story even more interesting... Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this first part of the story, which is the prologue. Like Nicholas Sparks wrote a prologue for the book, I wrote a prologue for this story that is similar to the one in A Walk To Remember because I thought it gave a good feel to the story. Please enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket (created by Natsuki Takaya), the novel A Walk To Remember (written by Nicholas Sparks), or the movie _A Walk To Remember_ (directed by Adam Shankman). I do, however, own all of the English released volumes and DVDs, a copy of the novel, and a copy of the DVD.

* * *

"Her Miracle"

by Swaying Cherry Blossoms

**- - - - - - -**

**Prologue**

_First you will smile, and then you will cry–don't say you haven't been warned_.

- Landon Carter, A Walk To Remember

It's been forty years, but when I close my eyes I can still see her walking toward me.

I was never the type of guy who grew attached to people too quickly. Sure, I had friends, and I was in a few relationships that had lasted longer than the average high school romance of only two months, and I might have even been in love, but I had never met someone in my whole entire life who could change who I was, or even get close enough to actually touch my heart with their own hands.

The life of mine that I speak of was up until I was seventeen. That year, I recall, was the most joyful, yet saddest, year of my life. I can remember every single detail of it; how the sun looked up in the sky as it shone down on Japan through the blooming Sakura trees, the smell of the wind as it blew back my hair, the laughter of the children in the neighborhood as they played outside after dinner. I was used to it all so much that these memories just seemed to implant themselves permanently into my brain every time I lived them, and now I could live through them again at the age of fifty-seven if I wanted to.

I am now walking down the street that I live on, the same street on which I grew up. After the year I had lived when I was seventeen, I intended on staying here in Higashine–a city in the region of Yamagata, located in northern Japan–for the rest of my life. The memory of the only person I truly ever loved resided here in this town, and I had no intention of leaving it.

As I walk down the street, the people who are out on their front lawns or sitting on their porches, for it is six o'clock in the evening, the time when everyone takes a break from their busy lives to relax for a mere half an hour, either nod to me or lift up a hand to wave. They all know my story, whether they lived through it as well or not. It is no secret what had happened to me, and my neighbors respect that. They are all very nice, simple people, which is another reason why I stayed here in Higashine.

The more I think about it, the more I can slowly see my neighborhood transform back to the way it was forty years ago. Some of the houses change, a few trees return here and there, and instead of cars driving by, people are mostly walking or bike riding to their destinations. I myself am changing too, both in appearance and maturity. My hair is now a darker shade of orange, even the color of fire as some used to describe it. The wrinkles in my face settle into my skin so that now it is smooth to the touch. My body slims down and now I have a flat stomach, broad shoulders, tanned skin, and toned arms. The innocence of my youth returns once again, yet I lose all of the knowledge I had gained over years of experience and life.

When I open my once closed eyes, I am back in the time of the world where households only had one television, women and young girls wore dresses, men wore suits, young boys wore jeans with striped T-shirts and high top Converse sneakers, and the most recent worldwide tragedy was World War II.

It is nineteen-sixty-six and I am seventeen years of age.

I will introduce myself to you: my name is Kyo Sohma. I am about to tell you my story, the story about how my life suddenly changed in the short period of five months, give or take a month.

I will tell you now, in advance, that although you will be guaranteed to smile as you read this, you will also cry.

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Thank you for reading, and please review! Your feedback determines whether or not I should continue with this story! 

- Swaying Cherry Blossoms


	2. Accident

Hey guys! Wow, it's the second chapter already. Thank you so much for reviews on the prologue, I'm glad you all liked it! I tried updating on Friday and Saturday, but FF was down so I had to wait until today, but at least it's up now. And to answer some questions, everything in both the book and movie will be in this story (I'll at least try) and I'm also going to throw in some of my own scenes. All in all, this should be a pretty good story! So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the first chapter... And don't forget to review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket (created by Natsuki Takaya), the novel A Walk To Remember (written by Nicholas Sparks), or the movie _A Walk To Remember_ (directed by Adam Shankman). I do, however, own all of the English released volumes and DVDs, a copy of the novel, and a copy of the DVD.

* * *

"Her Miracle"

by Swaying Cherry Blossoms

**- - - - - - -**

**Accident**

_There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed._

- Napoleon Bonaparte

I don't know why I went along with what had happened that night, but I guess I just did. It might have been Fate, even, or else I probably wouldn't be sitting here telling you this story.

I had driven out of town to a water tower to meet four of my friends. We were, you could say, "welcoming" a new kid to our school.

You see, I was part of the popular crowd in high school. Everyone knew who my friends and I were, partially because we got into trouble a lot, but mainly because we were the cool kids. Almost everyone wanted to be friends with us. Once that new guy learned that and tried to do what the other kids in our school did everyday–which was try to act cool and perform stupid stunts and crack supposedly funny jokes just so my friends and I would notice them–we decided to play a little game with him.

The plan went like this: the guy, who's name was Yuki, had to belly-flop from the water tower into a swamp-like lake. If he didn't chicken out and he actually made the jump, he would be officially part of our group. If he chickened out, well, let's say he would've been sorry that his parents had ever made that move to Higashine in the first place.

When I got out of my car I was greeted with a high five by my best friend Momiji. The other three–Hatsuharu, Rin, and my ex-girlfriend Kagura–were all seated on the hood of a car, taking swigs of beer from bottles that Rin had stolen from the refrigerator back at her house. When I went over to them, Haru offered me a sip of his beer. I gladly took the bottle from him and brought the tip of it to my lips, letting the fizzing liquid flow rapidly down my throat, and then handed it back to him. "Hey guys," I said.

"Yo," Haru greeted me. He and Rin had been on-and-off as a couple, so when I saw her climb into his lap and grin when he began to run his hand over her bare stomach–Rin wore revealing clothing–I knew that they were on for the time being. "Hey," Rin said as she closed her eyes and leaned back her head in the ecstacy of Haru's touch. She took a long sip of her beer.

"Kyo-kun!" Kagura squealed. Before I had a chance to move, or let along speak, Kagura had jumped off the car and trapped me in one of her many life threatening embraces. Did I mention I wasn't too fond of them? "Shit! Calm down, Kagura! Get offa me!" I demanded with what little breath I had.

At the beginning of our relationship, I liked Kagura, I really had. She was the one who introduced me to my popularity in the first place. When I first entered elementary school I knew absolutely no one and I would play outside on the playground by myself. One day Kagura came strolling along and sat by me and asked if I wanted to play with her. I was hesitant at first, but then I started to enjoy her company every recess, and we soon became good friends. As we got older we became friends with Haru and Rin, and then we met Momiji and he became one of the only people I could trust with my life. Momiji was probably like the brother I never had, being that I don't even have any siblings.

Anyway, as we got into middle school, the friendship I had with Kagura began to grow. I was convinced that I had fallen in love with her and we went steady for two and a half years. Things started to get out of hand though after the two year mark. Kagura would never give me personal space, and I found myself more irritated and aggravated around her than when I was around anyone else. I broke up with her in the spring of our freshman year in high school, but we still kept our friendship together, which had meant the most to me despite the fact that I used to make out with the girl in the back of my father's car. But I tried not to think about that after we broke up.

"Whoops, sorry!" Kagura apologized with a giggle, followed by a hiccup. I rolled my eyes as she let go of me, ignoring the fact that she was on the borderline of being drunk. Momiji had joined us now, with his own bottle of beer, and together we all sat on the hood of the same car, waiting for the new guy to come.

"I bet you guys all the money I have that he won't even show up," Momiji said. "It's already ten-fifteen, and we told him to be here by ten."

"Give the guy a chance," Haru said as Rin began to nibble on his ear. "He's new. He probably got lost on his way here or something."

"Or, he chickened out," Momiji said.

"Well, if he doesn't come," Kagura started, jumping off the hood of the car again. She began to dance as if there was an imaginary record player playing a song inside of her head. "Then I wanna go back to the school! That dance was pretty good, considering all of the other school dances _suck_."

As he watched Kagura dance, Momiji clapped. He was one of the more playful, immature members of our group.

While Kagura danced, Momiji clapped, and Haru and Rin made out on the hood of the car, I was suddenly blinded by the headlights of a car that was headed toward us. "Hey guys," I said. "I think he's here."

"Great!" Momiji said as he took one last gulp of his beer before tossing the bottle he held into a nearby patch of weeds and jumping off the car. "I guess I lost my bet, but who cares! It's not like any of you took up my offer." He laughed to himself.

I paid no attention to Momiji, however. I watched as Yuki got out of his car, cooly and casually as if he was already one of us. I had to admit, I would've mistaken him for a girl if I hadn't already known he was a guy.

Yuki was tall and slender with violet eyes and grey hair that shone in the moonlight, making it look almost silver. His face was pale and his cheeks were a light tint of pink. If you asked me, he was too girly to be friends with us. For all we knew, the guy was probably gay.

Kagura didn't seem to mind apparently, for out of the corner of my eye I saw her gape at him, her eyes filled with admiration.

All I could think about was what the hell it was that made her find him so appealing.

"You're late," Haru said, his voice wheezing from his lip-lock session with Rin. She had slid off the hood of the car, tossing back her extremely long black hair over her shoulder as she discarded her bottle of beer in the same place Momiji had. "Wanna beer?" she asked Yuki.

"Oh, no thank you," Yuki declined. The guy seemed too damned polite to be in our group, too. "And I'm sorry I'm late. To be honest, I wasn't too sure if I should have come or not..."

"What's the matter?" Haru demanded. Haru had a tendency of teetering personalities. When he was calm and mellow, he was White Haru, or just Haru. But when he was sarcastic, rowdy, and out of control, like he got when Rin decided to suddenly break up with him, he was known as Black Haru. At the moment, I think he was leaning more toward Black Haru because of the fact that Yuki was late, and that he was hesitant about even showing up.

I knew that guy must've had some sort of feminine streak in him.

"Were you gonna chicken out or something?" Haru continued. By now he was up in Yuki's face, which I thought was kind of funny, but I decided to pull him back, just in case he tried anything. All we really wanted–or at least, I wanted–was to get the whole belly-flop thing over with and get the hell outta there. In the end, if Yuki did make the jump and everything was alright, we probably weren't going to let him in our group. It was likely that we would end up making some excuse, or just plain ditch him while he was in the water. The whole thing was just for our entertainment, anyway. It was always fun messing with the new guy.

"Hey, come on," I said as I pulled Haru away. "Let's just get this over with. I think the beer's getting to your head, Haru."

"Yeah, but sometimes that can be a good thing," Rin commented. I made a face once I realized what she meant, but I followed her, Kagura, and Momiji as they started for the water tower. Haru and Yuki walked behind me.

When we reached the tower Haru explained the whole scenario to Yuki once more. "All you gotta do is climb up to the tower, jump off, then get out of the water. If you do, then that's it; you're one of us."

"That's it?" There was a tone of relief in Yuki's voice at his inquiration. When we all nodded, Yuki looked up at the water tower and took off his shirt, revealing another one, to my own relief, underneath. "If it makes you feel any better," I said, taking off my pants to unveil a pair of shorts–I was well planned out for this whole thing–"I'm gonna jump with you too."

"Really?" Yuki sounded even more relieved. "Do you know how deep it is?"

"I don't know," I said with a smirk, taking off my sneakers and socks. "Let's find out."

I led Yuki to the ladder of the water tower and began to climb. Yuki followed quickly after me, for I could hear the clanking of his hands and feet against the rusty metal the ladder was made of. When we got to the top and looked down at the lake from the platform we were on, I saw Yuki lose what little color he had in his pale face.

"That looks, um, pretty high," he said, swallowing the way people usually do when they're nervous. "Come on, it's not that bad," I reassured him. Well, I was actually lying, since I didn't really know how bad the jump was, but I wasn't going to tell him that.

I gave Yuki a few minutes to collect himself, to, you know, be courteous. Finally, after what I thought was a courteous-enough amount of time, I said, "Ready? 'Cause I am."

"Yeah, I-I think so."

"Okay." I began to count, "Three ..."

Yuki took a deep breath.

"... Two ..."

And another.

" ... One ..."

And another.

"_Jump_!"

At my command, Yuki jumped off the platform, plummeting hard into the water. He sure did one helluva belly-flop, that's for sure. Everyone heard his body smack against the water and I felt myself wince at the thought of what it might've felt like.

But nevertheless, I cheered along with my friends. You had to give the guy credit for practically throwing himself into the lake like that.

We continued to cheer, the five of us, even as Yuki's body rose up to the surface of the water. It was turned over though, so all we could see was his back. At first we thought he was joking around with us, you know, by making it look like he wasn't conscious or something.

"Oh my God!" Kagura cried after his body remained in the same position after another minute. "Kyo-kun, he's hurt! He's hurt! Go help him!"

"Shit!" I cursed as I hurried down the ladder, soon realizing that Yuki wasn't joking around. I threw myself into the lake, stubbing my foot on a large metal object. I winced with pain, but I still swam over to Yuki.

"I knew we shouldn't have done this, Haru!" Rin shouted, giving her boyfriend a shove. Haru ignored her. "Hurry up Kyo!"

"Kyo, go get him! Come on!" Momiji called out.

When I reached Yuki I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled his head up out of the water. Blood covered his face completely, and as I starting to bring him over to the dock, as water-logged as I already was, I felt my injured foot brush against what could only be a metal pipe. I concluded that Yuki had collided with the pipe during his fall, resulting in his bloody face.

It wasn't that hard to bring Yuki back to the dock, seeing how he was pretty light in weight. Momiji helped me haul him up onto the dock, and I climbed up after him. Kagura, Rin, and Haru had already ran to their cars and drove away because there was suddenly the sound of sirens coming in the direction of the water tower.

I leaned over Yuki's stagnant body, tapping his face and calming him down. He spit up bloody water which dribbled down his shirt, causing me to make a disgusted face. The sight was a very gruesome one, but I wasn't going to just leave the guy there, knowing that I had done that to him.

"Kyo, come on," I heard Momiji say. He tugged on the sleeve of my shirt, trying to get me to leave. "Get outta here!" I snapped at him. "Go, I got it!"

And he listened to me.

I turned back to Yuki, who was now wheezing and moaning. Both of my hands were on his face, and I tried to hush him as best as I could. I saw his eyes barely open as he slowly lifted up his head, and then when he saw my face, he lowered it back onto the dock.

The sirens then grew louder, and I ran for it.

As I hurried to my car, I saw a police car swing into the parking lot of the water tower. I quickly opened my car door, thrust myself inside, and started it up. Turning the wheel vigorously, I drove away from the water. The policeman had driven in front of the parking lot exit, blocking my only escape. I thought quickly and then drove onto the grass, speeding away from the swat car.

That didn't stop the stubborn driver, however. He followed me onto the grass and soon enough we were in what some people might have a called a car chase. I stepped on the gas as hard as a could, my old car moaning as it went as fast as it was capable of, but the police officer caught up with me. He eventually drove in front of me, causing my car to swerve into an oil can. The collision caused the can to split, one half of it flying into the windshield of my car. The window cracked and a piece of glass went flying into my forehead, fortunately only resulting in a big, bloody cut. I squirmed uncomfortably in my seat as the officer stepped up to my car.

"Put your hands on the wheel son," he told me.

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Thanks for reading! Don't forget that your feedback is really important! 

- Swaying Cherry Blossoms


	3. Punishment

Wow, I am soooo sorry everyone! I completely abandoned my poor story :[ But the good news is that it's back and in-progress again! For some reason I felt like continuing it after sparking interest in Fruits Basket again. I find this exciting because I always liked this story so now I'm really happy to be writing it once more. I actually wrote this whole chapter in one night because I was really looking forward to bringing it alive again! Before I start, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed and stayed loyal to the story and waited for it to be updated. I feel so bad, but after that second chapter I started losing interest in anime/manga, and I was also really busy. Now it's the summer before I go to college and I'm just walking down memory lane! It's fun :]

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket (created by Natsuki Takaya), the novel A Walk To Remember (written by Nicholas Sparks), or the movie _A Walk To Remember_ (directed by Adam Shankman). I do, however, own thirteen of the English released volumesof Fruits Basket and all of the DVDs, a copy of A Walk to Remember, and a copy of the DVD.

* * *

"Her Miracle"

by Swaying Cherry Blossoms

**- - - - - - -**

**Punishment**

_A punishment to some, to some a gift, and to many a favor._

- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The next morning I woke up to a huge throbbing in my forehead. I guess I deserved it though because Yuki ended up being admitted into the hospital in critical condition. At the time it really didn't matter to me … I was more concerned for myself and the minor injuries I had gotten as a result of that night, along with the punishment I knew I would eventually receive from the police or the school. Typical me when I was that age. Go figure.

Shishou, the father figure in my life—he had taken me in when my mother passed away and my biological father didn't want anything to do with me—was not pleased. As I limped into the kitchen after painfully getting out of bed, for my leg had gotten a bit beat up from the impact of my car hitting the barrel, in no way did he hide his displeasure from me. He was sitting at the table while reading a book, his mouth set in a line, waiting for me to wake up so he could have a talk with me. I never enjoyed Shishou's lectures, but I saw it coming.

"I don't think I can go to school today, Shishou," I said, wincing in over-exaggerated pain as I accentuated the limp I made when I walked. "My leg hurts pretty bad … And my head's killing me."

"No, Kyo," Shishou replied flatly, shaking his head and placing his book down on the table. "You're going to school. And I'd like to have a little discussion with you about what went on last night, if you can spare me some of your time."

I took a deep breath and sat down across from him, making sure I looked pained and uncomfortable due to my leg. I was definitely not going to feel so highly of myself once the conversation was over, that was for sure. Shishou was one of the only people whose words could really have a lasting affect on me.

"When I got that phone call last night," he began, "I was very surprised. I never thought you were capable of hurting another person that way. Not only did you force that boy to do something he probably was not comfortable doing, you _left him_. You left him by himself when he was injured and bleeding and needed someone to care for him. Kyo … That was very irresponsible. I'd like to think I did not raise you to act in such a way. I hope you won't behave in a foolish manner like that again. Do you understand?"

I bowed my head down as he spoke, letting his words crash into me like a ton of bricks. Shishou didn't yell or scold, he talked, but in a way that left you really thinking about what you had done. Before the incident with Yuki, Shishou only had to have a discussion like that with me very few times. And every time the same thing happened: he made me feel remorse for what I had done and made me realize that it was wrong. This time was no different. I did feel bad for Yuki, but I wasn't going to admit it. I only nodded and kept my head down. I think Shishou came to a conclusion that I was not going to say anymore to him because he got up and told me to have a good day at school, patting my head before he left the room. That was another thing about Shishou, he always had a place in his heart to forgive.

At school I had been called down to the principal's office. But before addressing me about why I was there in the first place (though I can't say I didn't know already), he reached underneath his desk and collected a bunch of beer bottles, lining them up on the wooden surface. He raised an eyebrow at me. "Care to explain?"

"What's there to explain?" I scoffed. I didn't feel like sitting there and telling him what a horrible guy I was for making Yuki belly-flop into the lake as a stupid way to entertain my friends and me. He sighed. "The police reported that you and your friends were drinking on school grounds last night around the time of the dance, then on the premises of the factory where the water tower is. You should be so lucky that the company isn't pressing any charges." He scribbled something down on a notepad and then continued, "I, however, am not letting this one go, Kyo Sohma." I rolled my eyes. "What are you going to do? Expel me?" Boy did I think I was tough. "Not quite," the principal answered. "I'm going to assign you community service. You're going to tutor on the weekends at the middle school, you're going to aid the custodial staff after school, and you'll be participating in the drama club's production of _Cinderella_. Is that good enough for you?"

"Are you kidding me?" I moaned. The principal got up and leaned over his desk so that his face was only a few inches from mine. He dropped his voice as he spoke. "That's what happens when you send another student to the hospital. Listen, this is a chance for you to start experiencing new things and hanging around with other people. Do I make myself clear?" I nodded, growing uneasy at having him breathing in my face as he waited for me to reply. He then sat back in his chair and motioned for me to leave. "Don't blow it Sohma."

I told Momiji and the others about it the next day. Because they weren't caught at the scene, none of them got penalized for what happened. Momiji and Haru offered to help me with the custodial work after school, but I told them not to bother because it would be a waste of their time. It was embarrassing once other people began to talk about what happened that night at the water tower because all the talk was about _me_. Whenever I entered a classroom I could hear the whispers begin.

"_Did you hear about what Sohma did to the new kid? He threw him in a lake and landed him in the hospital with a broken nose and stitches."_

"_Yeah, I also heard he left the guy on the dock and ran to save his sorry ass from the police."_

"_What a bastard. So much for thinking he was some big tough guy … He's really just a coward, isn't he?"_

Looking back on it now, I know I deserved it. I know I deserved every punishment I received for what I had done, but at the time I didn't think that. I just felt completely sorry for myself and I couldn't wait until it was all over with and Yuki was out of the hospital so the rumors would stop and my life could go back to normal.

That Saturday began the first weekend of my tutoring. I had to get up at eight o'clock in the morning to make the bus that would take me and the other tutors to the middle school at nine o'clock. The other tutors that were on the bus were people I didn't associate myself with, people I thought I had a higher social ranking than. I didn't bother to talk to any of them, nor did I want to be caught dead doing so either. I just spent the bus ride staring out the window, wishing for noon to come so I could get the hell out of there.

Tutoring was a real bust. The kid I had to tutor ended up throwing a fit and left the classroom to play basketball outside, so I just threw my pencil down and gave up. It was no use forcing the stuff on him if he didn't care, right? So I didn't. It made the whole tutoring thing a lot easier for me.

I felt extremely relieved on the bus ride back to the high school. Haru and Momiji were picking me up and we were going to get something to eat before meeting with the girls somewhere. It wasn't until I felt someone sit down next to me in my seat that all of my relief went pouring out the window of the bus.

I turned over to see a girl named Tohru Honda smiling at me with a goofy expression that really ticked me off for some reason. I was wondering why she was sitting next to me all of a sudden, and why she smiled as if we were great friends or something. I knew the girl since elementary school and basically had all the same classes with her. Her grandfather was well known in town as head of the Buddhist temple, so she was very religious and was always quoting him about some religious nonsense. It annoyed the crap out of me so much, but everyone seemed to love her. She was always volunteering or helping people out in some way. The girl was pretty selfless, if that's what you want to call it.

"Hello Kyo-kun!" she greeted me. She was always so cheery, too. I really didn't like it. "I'm sorry to bother you, but would you like to purchase a raffle ticket? The money is going towards buying new books for the children at the orphanage! The prize being raffled off is a new telescope, isn't that exciting?"

Pft, a new telescope. I bet that was her idea, being that she was into that kind of stuff.

"No, not really," I said to her. I went back to looking out the window, trying to ignore her in hope that she would go away.

"Oh, okay," she replied. I thought she was going to get up a leave me alone, but she just sat there. I was going to tell her to get lost, but something held me back. "Um, I-I'm sorry again for bothering you," she began. "But … A-are you going to visit Yuki-kun in the hospital?"

I ignored her.

After a long pause, she spoke again, "Oh, I'm guessing that would be a no … Ah, did you know that they moved him from the intensive care unit to another floor, though? He seems to be recovering well! I—"

"Is this your idea of a conversation?!" I snapped. I couldn't take it anymore. Hearing her talk about Yuki to me so freely, expecting me to actually care about how he was doing, it all bugged me so much. I just wanted her out of my sight. "I really don't care. What happened wasn't my fault, okay? The guy didn't have to jump if he didn't want to! He could've just said no and we all would've been cool with it. It's his own damn problem!"

Tohru began to get nervous. "Oh n-no, Kyo-kun! I-I wasn't blaming you at all! I was just wondering if you were going to see how he was doing …"

"Well I'm not, okay? I don't like hospitals." She nodded, a sad look growing on her face. "Oh, I see." We sat in an awkward silence for a little bit and at one point I thought she would never get up to leave, but she did, shyly saying goodbye to me before doing so.

For the rest of the ride, I mentally kicked myself for acting like such a jerk.

Monday was my first drama club rehearsal. It turns out it was the first rehearsal for the whole club as well because the parts hadn't been given out yet. I had shown up late because I was fooling around a bit with Momiji and Haru after I had to mop up the gymnasium, but if I had known who the play director was I would've made sure I was the first person there.

"Ah, is this Kyo Sohma arriving _late_ to my drama club rehearsal?!" the director sang. One look at him and you would've thought he was a girl. He had long silver hair and was dressed in a ruffled shirt, tight pants, and boots that were too feminine for any self-respecting man on the face of the earth to wear. "Shame on you, Kyonkichi, for not being responsible as your duty of Prince Charming in our production of _Cinderella_! Why, you have one of the main roles and you don't bother showing up on time for rehearsal?! Tsk tsk!"

"What?! Are you crazy?! There's no way I'm—"

"Oh wow, that's wonderful!" someone exclaimed. I looked over and saw, of course, Tohru Honda with a joyous look on her face. "Congratulations, Kyo-kun! The role of Prince Charming is wonderful! You'll do such a great job!" She was sitting next to Arisa Uotani and Saki Hanajima, her two best friends. Both of them were weirdoes.

"Tell me about it," Uotani sniggered. I would've nailed one on her, being that she was pretty tough and at one time was in a gang (I referred to her as 'Yankee' because of that), but that Hanajima girl creeped me out way too much, so I didn't go near them. Hanajima always dressed in black outside of school and was some kind of psychic freak. Leave it to friendly Tohru Honda to befriend the two strangest girls in school.

"Why yes, it _is_ a wonderful role!" the director sang on. His voice made me want to strangle him. "And you, Tohru-kun, will be playing our beautiful Cinderella!" Everyone clapped while Tohru blushed and babbled modestly about how she wasn't the best choice for Cinderella and that someone else should play her, but the director didn't listen. I decided to get myself out of my misery and sit down, away from all the commotion.

"Nonsense, Tohru-kun! You'll do fabulous! Now, the role of our Evil Step-Mother goes to Minami Kinoshita, the Evil Step-Sister will be Saki Hanajima, the Prince's assistant will be Manabe Kakeru, and our narrator will be Arisa Uotani. I think you will all do splendid!" Everyone except me clapped after the roles were given out. I had no desire to be there whatsoever, plus I was ticked off that the director, whose name I found out was Ayame, for giving me of all people the role of the prince. I was even more pissed when we were given a copy of the script to take home and review before we actually began rehearsing it the next day.

Momiji and Haru wouldn't let me live it down once they found out who I would be acting as in the play later that day. Momiji offered to help me with my lines because he thought it would be 'fun', but I passed because I had no intention of practicing once I got home. Momiji said he would be there in the front row the night of the show though, which I knew I could count on because he was my best friend. I guess that was one good thing I had in my life at the time.

After a week of rehearsal, plus another failing attempt at tutoring, I had come to realize that I was seeing a lot of Tohru Honda. I guess that's what the principal meant when he said that this was a chance for me to hang around new people, but I didn't think that meant Tohru. She was probably the last person in the whole school I would hang out with besides that psychic freak friend of hers. I had known her for so many years and knew basically her whole life story, but in that first week of drama rehearsal and tutoring, I had come to learn a lot more about her.

For one thing, I learned that she was a really good actor. She recited her lines in perfect character, but I guessed it was probably because she went home and practiced for hours. As for me, well, I barely picked up my script even at rehearsal. I was trying to see if Ayame would get the message that I had no desire at all to play the part of Prince Charming, but of course the guy was oblivious. "Kyonkichi, you need more _feeling_ in the way you say your lines!" he would cry. No thanks.

Towards the end of the second week everyone began to grow tired of me not knowing my lines. Now that I look back on it, I suppose it was frustrating for them all, but I didn't care because I wanted out. One day after rehearsal when I was waiting for Momiji and Haru to pick me up, Tohru, the Yankee, and the psychic randomly began talking to me when they came outside. They did most of the talking, I just grunted in response to any questions they asked me.

"So, Orange, when are you actually going to start giving a damn about this play?" the Yankee asked me.

"Never," I shot back. "I don't give a crap about it all. I'm only doing this because I'm being forced to! You think I'd actually volunteer to do something like this?!"

"Sheesh, way to be such a downer," she replied. "Just have a little fun with it, it's not gonna kill you."

"It could … If he doesn't do what he's told," the psychic spoke in a trance-like state. I inched away from them a little bit.

"You mean you don't like being a part of the play, Kyo-kun?" Tohru questioned. She was always so innocent, it bugged me so much. I really just wanted to get away from her. "No, I don't like it," I said.

"Do you have any of your lines memorized?"

"Nope."

"W-Would you like me to … Help you?"

I looked over at Tohru, an eyebrow raised. She looked nervous, but also concerned, and I could tell she was probably thinking about the benefit of the play and all of the others who worked so hard and put their time and effort into making the production a successful one … Everyone but me.

Which is why I was surprised when I found myself shrugging and answering, "Okay, whatever, I don't care." This delighted Tohru and her concerned expression became one of happiness. "Uwah, this is great! We can all practice the script together! How about my house tomorrow after school?"

"That sounds good," the Yankee said. The psychic nodded. I didn't say anything.

Finally I could see Haru's car pulling into the parking lot of the school.

"Oh, just one thing, Orange."

"What?" I turned around to look at the Yankee who was standing with the psychic, Tohru in between them. They each had a hand on her shoulder.

"You have to promise that you won't fall in love with her."

I scowled as Tohru turn beat red and began babbling again—something she did when she was nervous or embarrassed, I guessed—and turned to head into Haru's car, which was know pulled up to the curb. I shouted over my shoulder to them.

"That won't be a problem!"

* * *

Thanks for reading! Please review, because if not many people review then I won't have much motivation to continue again!

- Swaying Cherry Blossoms


	4. Coward

Hello again! So I got pretty good feedback for the returning chapter and that helped me make my decision to continue writing :] At the current moment I'm mish-mashing back and forth between the book and the movie. I find that I'm incorporating more of the movie now, but eventually I'll get to stuff from the book too. And this chapter has a little bit of my own twist. None of you seem to have any questions about the story so far so I guess I'm doing a good job at not confusing anyone! So here's the fourth chapter … Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket (created by Natsuki Takaya), the novel A Walk To Remember (written by Nicholas Sparks), or the movie _A Walk To Remember_ (directed by Adam Shankman). I do, however, own thirteen of the English released volumes of Fruits Basket and all of the DVDs, a copy of A Walk to Remember, and a copy of the DVD.

* * *

"Her Miracle"

by Swaying Cherry Blossoms

**- - - - - - -**

**Coward**

_The key to change … is to let go of fear._

- Rosanne Cash

I had decided to keep the idea of Tohru helping me with my lines for the play from Momiji and the others, only because I knew they would nag me about it. Momiji would have probably begun to push my buttons, asking me if I liked her or something. Haru would've just came out and assumed that right away. Kagura probably would've beaten me to a pulp due to the fact that she was extremely jealous if another girl even tried talking to me, and Rin most likely wouldn't have said anything. To put it this way, my friends and Tohru Honda did not mix well together.

The first day I went to Tohru's house after I did my duties helping out the custodial staff at school, I have to admit I was pretty intimidated. For one thing, the fact that her grandfather was the head of the town's only Buddhist temple was a little unsettling. I myself was not a religious person, nor was I ever around people who were. I braced myself for any religious references that her grandfather would spew out at me during my time there, because I had a feeling that he would be making an appearance.

The location of Tohru's home was no mystery to me. Basically everyone knew where one another lived in Higashine back then because it was pretty small. And when I walked in front of the house and saw a small Buddhist statue sitting in what seemed to be a zen garden, I knew for sure that I was at the right place. I walked up the stone path leading to the porch, climbed up, and knocked on the wooden rim of the paper sliding door.

Not to my surprise, Tohru's grandfather himself was my personal greeter. "Ah, you must be Kyo Sohma-san, Tohru-san's new visitor today," he said to me. "Welcome. Won't you come in?" As he stepped to the side to make room for me to enter, I could hear footsteps through the thin paper walls. Tohru sudden emerged from behind a door, carrying a tray of food. She had a big smile plastered on her face. I wondered if it was the only emotion her face could express, because it seemed like it.

"Welcome, Kyo-kun! I see you've met my grandfather." She turned to him. "Grandpa, this is Kyo Sohma-kun! He's going to play Prince Charming in the school play and today he's going to rehearse his lines with Uo-chan, Hana-chan, and I!" Tohru's grandfather chuckled. "Yes, Tohru-san, you mentioned that earlier to me." He then motioned for me to follow Tohru into the other room. "Please," he said. "Make yourself comfortable." Making myself comfortable was not an easy task to do because their politeness was a little too overbearing for me. I was never used to anyone, not even Shishou, being so polite toward me.

As I entered the other room, which seemed to be the dining area, I was greeted with a nod from the Yankee and a creepy "Hello …" from the psychic. Tohru had placed the tray of food on the table and had sat down with the others. For some reason, I suddenly felt calm once I entered the room, my intimidation and slight nerves from being at the house of a Buddhist priest disappearing. As I sat down before the table, I noticed a lot of things that were in the room. There was an open sliding door on the opposite side revealing another garden outside, one with a small flowing waterfall. I could faintly hear wind chimes blowing in the breeze. Despite the wind chimes, the whole house was peaceful. It was an atmosphere I had never been in before, but I found myself not minding it at all.

The four of us began meeting everyday we didn't have drama club—which was Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday—to rehearse our lines. I have to admit, it really helped me a lot. Day by day I found that I was growing more knowledgeable of my dialogue and I even practiced at home on my own. Tutoring on Saturdays even became a little more tolerable because Tohru would sit with me on the bus. She did most of the talking though, I would only nod and listen. Hanging around with her even became more tolerable for me.

Yuki was still in the hospital. I overheard some kids one day saying that he was recovering well but that he would have to stay there a few more weeks. I couldn't help but think that people talked about him around me on purpose.

One Thursday night, during the second week into going to Tohru's house to rehearse for the play, the gang and I were hanging outside a sushi bar we liked to go to a lot. Momiji, Kagura, Haru, and Rin were all drinking beer and kept insisting that I lighten up and drink too, but I just wasn't in the mood that night. While they were talking and laughing about something they saw someone do inside the restaurant, I happened to notice a familiar figure walking down the street. I squinted my eyes and realized it was Tohru.

I still hadn't told any of them about how I went to her house everyday to practice for the play, and I didn't intend on doing so either. I regret every single thing I did in that short amount of time, but as usual I was only thinking of myself and what my friends thought of me. So, to prevent Tohru from stopping by to say hello if she saw me, I turned around and put up the hood of my jacket. Momiji looked at me with a confused look, but before he could say anything I heard footsteps approaching us and knew my attempt had failed.

"Ah, hello Kyo-kun!" I heard Tohru say cheerfully. Of course, being the person she was, she didn't fail to say hello to everyone else as well. "Hello Kagura-san, Isuzu-san, Momiji-kun, Hatsaharu-san … How are you all doing?" Mortified, I brought my hood down and ran a hand over my embarrassed face. I could feel the stares of my friends as they awkwardly said hello to Tohru. Everyone was silent for a moment. I think Tohru eventually noticed the beer bottles in everyone's hands, for she spoke to them with concern afterwards, "Um, it's a school night … Shouldn't you all not be out … Drinking?"

"What's it to you?" Rin snapped. Hearing her talk that way to Tohru made me twitch a little bit.

"It's nothing new to us," Kagura added. "Here … Want one?" With a smirk she held out a bottle of beer towards Tohru, looking at me the whole time. They were all looking at me now. I was exposed.

"Um, n-no thank y-you," Tohru nervously, yet politely, declined.

"What are _you_ doing out walking around on a school night?" Haru asked. I could tell he was suddenly enjoying this. "Oh, I'm on my way home from work!" Tohru replied, cheerful once again. I just wanted her to go away and not talk to me. So far she hadn't, which relieved me, but I guess I thought too soon.

"Well, I'll see you after school tomorrow then, Kyo-kun!"

I clenched my jaw. With the way my friends were looking at me, I knew they would make my life a living, mortifying hell if they found out I was actually hanging out with Tohru Honda after school, even if it was just to rehearse our lines. I racked my brain for a way to escape, a way to just disappear without having to answer either of them. However, I did something I regret right to this day.

"Yeah, like I'd ever go to _your_ house!"

The look on Tohru's face sent a spear through my heart. Normally, if it was someone else I had said that to, I wouldn't feel so bad. But because it was someone like her, so kind and considerate, someone who actually wanted to be my friend not because of my popularity, but because I was me, I felt extreme remorse for what I had done. There was no way I could take it back, especially once my friends began sniggering and Tohru's eyes became glassy.

"I-I see," she said glumly. "Um … goodnight."

"See you at temple," Rin said as Tohru began walking away. I knew she hadn't said that to be friendly, either.

The next day we didn't have drama club rehearsal because it was Friday, so I went to Tohru's house after cleaning up some classrooms like I usually had been doing. I hadn't seen her since the incident the night before, but because she was Tohru Honda I assumed that she would have just forgotten the whole thing and forgave me. I was partially right.

The Yankee answered the door. One look at me and the last thing I saw was a flurry of her blonde hair before I found myself being choked by her grabbing my shirt collar. She breathed furiously in my face. "Don't think I don't know about what you did to Tohru last night!" she sneered. "And what for?! To impress your dumbass friends?! Well if it wasn't for them you wouldn't have any friends at all because after what you did to Tohru … The last thing you deserve is her friendship!"

This got me fired up. Whenever anyone initiated some type of fighting with me, I always welcomed it. And since the Yankee had been in a gang before and was used to that kind of stuff, I wasn't afraid to hit her if she tried me.

"So what?!" I bellowed back. "Shit, I didn't mean anything by it! She was the one who came and started talking to us! Why does she have to be so damn friendly all the time?!"

"You little … I'm going to beat the crap outta you!"

"Bring it, Yankee! I'm not scared of you one bit!"

"Uo-chan?! W-What's going on?!" At the sound of Tohru's voice, the Yankee abruptly let go of my collar, shoving me away from her. Tohru had a confused yet concerned look on her face, but once she saw me she immediately turned bright red. "Ah, hello … Kyo-kun …"

"Uh, hi," I mumbled, feeling guilt flash all across my face. I shifted uncomfortably on my toes.

"Just get out of here," the Yankee said. "You obviously don't like being in our company so why don't you just go home and rehearse your lines on your own? Or better yet, do us all a favor and drop out of the play."

"Why don't you make up your mind?!" I shouted. "First you all want me to play the prince and nag at me to practice my lines and now you're telling me to get lost and drop out?! Sure, I'd love to drop out!"

"No!" Tohru protested, stepping out of the house and onto the porch with the Yankee and me. "Kyo-kun, you've come really far since you've been practicing! You shouldn't give up and put all that hard work to waste!"

"Tohru, let him be. I don't think he really cares about the play," the Yankee said. "And I certainly don't think he deserves a friend like you. You should stop worrying about what he said … He's just a coward who only cares about what other people think of him."

"_He's really just a coward, isn't he?"_

The Yankee was right. I was a coward. The only reason I had said those hurtful words to Tohru was because I was afraid of what my friends would think of me if they knew I was hanging out with her after school. The only reason I ran from Yuki's side after his belly-flop was because I was afraid of facing the police and taking responsibility like I should have. I was always running from and avoiding the things I didn't want to face.

Like usual, I ignored what the Yankee said and scowled. "You … You don't know what you're talking about!" I turned quickly on my heel and jumped off the porch, furious at the fact that the truth was thrown right in my face and there was no way to avoid it. I hated everything at that moment. I hated the fact that I had to take the time from my life to act in a play that I didn't give a damn about, I hated how I actually went along with my friends' stupid plan to initiate Yuki into our group and ended up being the only one suffering the consequences, I hated that Yankee for calling me a coward, and I hated Tohru Honda. I hated how she was just so _nice_ and was the only person who could make me feel bad about the way I treated them without even trying.

As I stomped down the pathway from the house to the sidewalk I could hear Tohru babbling nervously as the Yankee tried calming her down. I didn't look back as I walked down the block, putting them all behind me in a fury of anger and regret.

The next few days following my fight with the Yankee went by slowly and awkwardly. I dreaded going to the drama rehearsals because I would get death glares from that thug, and I could've sworn the psychic was putting a curse on me at one point. Tohru succeeded in avoiding me at all costs, except once we got to practicing dialogue between the prince and Cinderella. She never would look up at me, but instead always kept her eyes on her script. It made me feel worse that she couldn't even stand the sight of me.

I guess my friends noticed that I was becoming quiet. I wouldn't laugh with them that often, or even bother to go out with them on their frequent visits to the sushi bar. I preferred to stay home and go over my lines. "You're getting boring, Kyo!" Momiji whined to me once. I agreed with him, but I liked being called boring more than I liked be called a coward. I liked it a lot more.

Tohru didn't sit with me on the bus that Saturday during the tutoring session.

At drama club rehearsal on Monday, Ayame let us out early as a reward for doing so well with the progress of the play. He did, however, ask the guys to help him move some of the heavy props from the storage room to the center of the stage so we could begin to rehearse with our scenery. I was surprised to see that Tohru stayed to help too.

She still didn't go near me, though. She helped with some of the smaller objects, such as chairs and Cinderella's cleaning supplies. Us guys had to move out a bed, a dresser, tables, and the base for what would become the carriage that took Cinderella to the ball. It took us over an hour.

Haru couldn't pick me up that day so I was on my own and had to walk home. As I headed out the building I faintly heard footsteps behind me, but didn't think much of it. I only started to really notice them when they were still following me about five minutes into my trip home. I turned my head to the side so I can look behind me with the corner of my eye. To my surprise, I saw Tohru about thirty meters behind me. I turned my whole body to face her, making her stop in her tracks.

"Ah! I-I'm sorry, I was just going home and happened to be going the same w-way as you, Kyo-kun," she stammered, blushing a deep red, which I found was something else she did quite often. "P-Please don't think I was following you or anything, I'm so sorry!"

I sighed in slight annoyance. Here, I was the one who had hurt her feelings and made her upset a few nights before, yet she was apologizing for walking behind me because her way home happened to be the same as mine. It was getting a little too much.

I held up my hand to get her to stop. "You don't gotta apologize all the time, okay? I don't care if you're walking behind me or not, I was just curious to see who it was." I began walking toward her, nervous for what I was about to do, because it was something I rarely ever did, but I had to face reality and do it. I had to stop running and avoiding. Those unappealing qualities of me needed to be changed.

"Look," I began, standing before Tohru, who looked rather nervous herself. She probably thought I was going to tell her off or something. I set my eyes on the ground beneath my feet. "I … I'm not really good with people I just become acquainted with. I don't know how to treat them or how they react to different things I do … It's hard for me, I'm not used to it. But what I said to you the other day was … wrong of me, and … I-I'm sorry."

I lifted my head to face Tohru. She was looking up at me with a small accepting grin on her face. "It's okay," she said. "I was going to tell you that yesterday but, ah … Uo-chan is a little protective over me!"

"A little?" I replied sarcastically.

We awkwardly stood there for a few minutes, listening to the rustling of the trees and the sound of cars driving by. Finally, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and do something I would not have done if Tohru was someone else.

"So, um, let's go then."

I don't think I can ever describe how happy she looked at that very moment. Because I, Kyo Sohma, had hinted an offer of friendship to her, she was more joyful than ever. I never thought I could make someone feel that way by being their friend, but I guess once you ran into someone with a rare personality like Tohru's, any small gesture could mean the world to them.

We walked side by side with a spacious gap between us, but it was comfortable for me. I felt like a big weight had been lifted off my shoulders, like I had done something that was bothering me for so long and once it was finally taken care of, I could actually breathe. It was probably my apology to Tohru and just taking that tiny step out of my comfort zone that made such a big difference for me. It was a good feeling.

"Forty-two …" I heard Tohru mumble to herself. I raised an eyebrow at her. "Huh? What? What's forty-two?"

"Oh, it's nothing!" she answered, slightly blushing. "Come on, tell me," I said. I felt bad for pressuring her, but for some reason I was really curious.

"Well, it's from a list of ambitions I sort of have. Forty-two, that's 'Befriend someone I never thought I would be friends with.' I-It's kind of silly, but I just came up with the list one day and found myself following it after …"

"Oh." I shrugged. "That's … Not so silly, I guess. What else is on the list?" Realizing that I had some sort of interest, Tohru lightened up a bit and there was a little more bounce to her step as she walked. "Oh! Um, let me see ... Serve in the Peace Corps, be in two places at once, make a medical discovery, see that comet that's supposed to be flying over Japan this February …"

"What's your number one?" Tohru blushed again. "Ah, um … That's not something I'm ready to share with anyone yet. I'm sorry Kyo-kun, I hope you understand." I waved my hand at her. "I don't really care. But you have to stop apologizing all the time! It's really getting on my nerves."

"Oh! I'm sor—"

"See?! You don't have to be sorry for everything you do, it doesn't matter to me."

"O-Okay!"

The walk had taken a lot less long than I thought it would have—probably because we talked the whole time—because we were in front of Tohru's house before we knew it. For me, it was the most I ever talked to someone other than my best friends before. It was different for me, almost like a breath of fresh air. Talking to Tohru was nothing like talking to Momiji or Kagura. Tohru genuinely listened and didn't judge. Actually, she never judged me once. So many people had judged me because of what happened to Yuki, but Tohru treated me like she would anyone else.

"Thank you for walking home with me!" Tohru said as she smiled. "I enjoyed it very much!"

I nodded, scratching the back of my head. "Uh, I guess I'll be over tomorrow then. You know, to rehearse our lines."

"Ah! About tomorrow … I'll be paying a visit to the orphanage! I haven't been there in a while, and I'd like to help them start raising money to buy presents for the children for the New Year." Her eyes then widened, as if she had an idea. "Would you like to come with me, Kyo-kun? We could rehearse our lines for the children! They would love it!"

"I'd rather not," I responded. I felt bad once again for not treating Tohru with the kindness she deserved, but doing something like that was so uncomfortable and foreign to me. The glow fell from her face a bit. "Why don't you bring the Yankee and that freak or something?" I added. Tohru slightly nodded, turning to begin walking up the path to her house. "Well, I'll see you in school then tomorrow. Have a good night, and get home safe."

"Night."

As I headed home I thought about the whole walk with Tohru. I thought about her list of ambitions and how I was so afraid of everything I said. I was even afraid of going to the orphanage with her. I was scared of opening up to someone new, even if it was someone as welcoming as Tohru Honda.

I had to stop being such a coward.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Reviews are wonderful!

- Swaying Cherry Blossoms


	5. Beautiful

Update time! It took a little longer than I liked get this chapter done, but nevertheless it's here. It's a bit shorter than the last two, only because I didn't want to thrown in too much all at once. I thought two parts from the story were good enough. This time it's more of the book coming into play. Well thank you so much for the reviews on the last chapter, and I hope you all enjoy this one just as much!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket (created by Natsuki Takaya), the novel A Walk To Remember (written by Nicholas Sparks), or the movie _A Walk To Remember_ (directed by Adam Shankman). I do, however, own thirteen of the English released volumes of Fruits Basket and all of the DVDs, a copy of A Walk to Remember, and a copy of the DVD.

* * *

Her Miracle"

by Swaying Cherry Blossoms

**- - - - - - -**

**Beautiful**

_Anyone can catch your eye, but it takes someone special to catch your heart._

- Anonymous

I looked up at the building that stood before me. It was large yet a little run down, and there were some toys skewed across the front lawn. I shoved my hands in my pockets nervously, wondering if I had made the right decision to go there. At that point, though, there was really no turning around because I had gone through hell and back following directions to get to the place, so it all would've been a waste of time if I had decided then and there to just turn around and leave.

Shishou had surprised me the night before when I got home with my car, all fixed and drivable again. I was a little caught up in my thoughts though, so I never really gave him the proper thanks I should have. I had just gone straight to my room, plopped myself on my futon, and stared at the ceiling. I stayed in my room for the rest of the night.

I don't know what it was inside of me that brought me to go there that day. Maybe it was guilt, maybe it was curiosity, but whatever it was I could not identify it. So I held in my breath as I walked up to the door, hoping my instinct was right.

Inside the building it was bright and filled with life, unlike the way it looked outside. The walls were cracked, but they were painted orange and had drawings and finger paintings plastered all over them. There was a woman sitting at a desk who looked up when she heard the door close behind me. She smiled. "Hello, how may I help you?" Caught off guard, I thought of a reasonable explanation as to why I had come. "Uh, just visiting," I replied. She nodded. "I see, are you with the girls? They arrived about twenty minutes ago. They're in the play room on the second floor with the children. It's the third door from the left of the stairs." I nodded then headed for the stairs.

I could hear the chattering and laughter once I reached the second floor. I found the room the woman said they would be in, but hesitated before I went in. Inside the room it was quiet, a huddle of children sitting on the floor facing the corner. I craned my neck and looked around for a head of long brown hair, even blonde or black if I got desperate. Finally, I saw her.

She was the one the children sat down so quietly for. Perched on top of a little wooden chair, Tohru read happily from a big book, pointing to pictures so the children could see. I leaned against the doorframe, my arms crossed over my chest, and listened. It seemed as if she had this power of catching everyone's attention in the room. Though I wouldn't have admitted it at the time, even I was drawn in. The way she was able to interact so well with not only the children, but the others in the room as well, was … Indescribable.

I don't know how long I stood there for. Even after she was done finishing, I wasn't sure if I should have gone in or not. I felt like I only would've been in the way because I was not really the best with kids. While I was deciding this, however, the Yankee had spotted me. "Oi, Orange is here," I heard her say, her expression blank. Tohru spun around and I could see a look of surprise and happiness on her face. "Kyo-kun! What a surprise!" she said. She came towards the door.

"Hey," I said, shifting awkwardly from one foot to another. I could see the glares from the Yankee and the psychic. Obviously they hadn't forgiven me yet. "Um, I thought about it last night and … I guess it wouldn't kill me to come here. So I came."

"That's wonderful!" Tohru exclaimed, tears welling up in her eyes. "These children are so brilliant, and they don't get many visitors! They love it when people come!" She motioned for me to follow her. "Let me introduce you!" Without objection, I stepped into the room and followed Tohru to a group of children that had migrated to a table to color. "Everyone, this is my friend Kyo-kun!" she told them. "He's come to visit you all today!"

"Oooh, look at his hair! It's orange!" a little girl said, almost mesmerized as she pointed to my head. Tohru giggled. I noticed one girl that had immediately clung to Tohru and practically hid herself behind her when I looked their way. Tohru noticed. "Ah, Kyo-kun … This is Kisa-san!" She turned around and bent down so she was at eyelevel with Kisa. "It's okay, Kyo-kun is very kind," she said gently. "I promise; you don't have to be afraid!" After a pause, like magic, Kisa stepped out from behind Tohru. She still didn't say anything to me, though.

Tohru began walking around again, Kisa following her every move. I didn't know what to do with myself, and I didn't want to go over to the Yankee and the freak, so I followed her too. Tohru introduced me to one of the caretakers for the children, who bowed before me and thanked me for visiting. I was extremely uncomfortable because not in my whole life up to that point had someone ever bowed to me, even if it was just in thanks. It was so different for me.

We stayed for another forty-five minutes. Tohru led the children in a sing along, and she helped set up for snack time. The children were then put down for their naps. Kisa, however, stayed up and still clung to Tohru like she had been doing the whole time. Before we left, the caretaker asked us if we wouldn't mind helping out the orphanage by putting out jars at various locations around town to raise money to get presents for the children for the New Year. Tohru gladly accepted the jars and said she would help raise as much money as possible. She gave Kisa a long, tight hug before leaving. "I'll see you soon, okay Kisa-san?"

"Bye Onee-chan," I heard her squeak. "I'll miss you."

"Uwah, Kisa-san is so cute!" Tohru squealed after we stepped out of the building. "She is," the Yankee agreed. "But why is she so quiet?"

"I sense very sad waves around her," the psychic added.

"Kisa-san is the oldest of the all the children there," Tohru said. "She's been in and out of many foster homes, but unfortunately she wasn't treated very well at the last one she was at." Her face became sad, and her voice did as well. "Kisa-san was verbally abused there … The foster parents told her she was strange looking and whenever she said anything, they would just laugh at her. Eventually she just wouldn't speak anymore. Once the orphanage came to check on her to see how she was doing there, and they saw that she wasn't herself, they withdrew her from the home. She still is struggling to open up to people again, but she's making good progress." Tears were in her eyes once again and she hiccupped. I stood there, not able to say anything. It was actually really sad what those people had done to Kisa, and my heart genuinely ached for her. It made me think about how I was teased for my hair color when I was younger. "Kisa-san is such a sweet girl, I don't know how anyone could say such hurtful things to her!"

The Yankee and the psychic each put a hand on Tohru's shoulder to comfort her. "It's alright Tohru, she's happy again at the orphanage," the Yankee said. "Yes, she is," the psychic agreed. "Her waves _are_ sad, but there is also a calm, relieving aura around her. She will recover soon." Tohru nodded, as if to say she understood.

"Now, on a lighter note," the Yankee began, clearly trying to liven the mood, "how about those jars? We have to drop them off places so people can put money in them."

"Ah, yes!" Tohru said, suddenly less sad. "We do! I think we should leave them out for about a month, then we can collect them again and buy the presents for the children!"

"That sounds good. Should would go catch the bus then?" I could tell the Yankee was trying to ignore me. "I have my car with me," I suggested. The Yankee glowered at me. "You wouldn't mind Kyo-kun?" Tohru asked. "If it's not too much trouble, it would be such a great help!"

"Nah … It's fine."

"Thank you so much!" Tohru beamed as she, the Yankee, and the psychic followed me to my car. I could tell Tohru's two friends weren't happy with me at all, but they came, most likely for Tohru's sake. I had a feeling I would have to deal with them later if they could corner me once Tohru wasn't around.

The first place we drove to was the post office, which was down the road from the orphanage. We then went to several other places afterwards including a comic book store, a candy store, a barbershop, and the local grocery market. At the grocery market, the Yankee told Tohru we would all wait for her in the car. She didn't protest, she simply nodded and said she would be back as soon as possible. I knew right away what the two weirdoes were up to. I braced myself.

"What's going on?" the Yankee demanded. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I snapped back.

"I told you to leave Tohru alone after what you did to her last week. I thought my warning was clear enough. Are you just doing this so you can go back to your pathetic friends are laugh about her to them? Because if you are, I swear I'll—"

"No! Why would I do something like that? I mean … I know what I said to her was wrong, and I regret it, but I apologized to her and she's okay with it now. I—"

"He doesn't seem to have bad intentions, Arisa," the psychic interrupted. "His waves are quite confusing, but I don't feel anything false coming from him." She turned to me. "I do hope you know that if you ever harm our Tohru-kun again, you will suffer." I stared at her, my eyes widening, then I swallowed nervously. "O-Okay then." Boy was she strange.

"I'm still not sure if I can trust you," the Yankee went on to say. "But I won't fight you off. Tohru obviously sees _something_ in you that makes her want to be your friend, and I'm going to respect her for that because she deserves it. But like Hanajima said, if you hurt her again, you're not getting away with it like last time."

Luckily Tohru came back in time and the two stopped harassing me.

The date of the play was coming quickly. The whole entire stage was set up and all of the scenery and props were ready. We were all fitted for our costumes and fliers were put up all around school and town, advertising everyone to come see the show. Personally, every time I saw a flier I wanted to rip it down. The less people that came to see it, the better. I didn't need the whole town seeing me attempt to portray Prince Charming.

One Sunday, about a week and a half before opening night, Momiji was over my house. He desperately wanted to rehearse my lines with me so I finally gave in. We sat outside in the back, both wearing jackets because the air had become brisker as winter was quickly approaching. At that point my lines were basically memorized, so Momiji read from the script as Cinderella, much to my objection. He thought it was funny hearing me tell him how beautiful I thought he looked.

"This is fun, Kyo!" he laughed. "I wish you would tell me I look beautiful more often!"

"Shut up!" I spat. "Sheesh, it's just a play. It's not like I mean anything that I have to say."

"I know! Kyo, you don't have to get all uptight about it, I was only kidding!" He laughed some more.

Neither of us said anything for a few minutes after. I kicked a few rocks as Momiji flipped through the script, then he put it down. He sighed before he spoke, "You've been spending a lot of time with Tohru Honda lately." I wasn't expecting him to bring her up so casually. I shrugged. "Yeah, so?"

"Nothing, it's just that … She's changed you, I can see it. So can Kagura."

"What are you talking about? She hasn't changed me at all." Momiji grinned as he stared off into the wooded area behind my house. "I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but it seems like you're a lot calmer. You're not as jumpy as you normally are, and you seem to be more determined and everything … I don't know, I like it though. It's almost as if she's healed you in a way."

I thought hard about what Momiji said. I hadn't really noticed a difference in myself, and Shishou hadn't said anything either. Sure, I had stepped out of my comfort zone a lot of times since I began hanging around Tohru, but I didn't think Momiji or anyone else was aware. Then again, he was my best friend. And Kagura was my ex-girlfriend of two years.

I _did_ feel different when I was around Tohru. Being around her made me want to be a little kinder. It made me want to do things like help orphans and try harder at assignments I was given. There was just something about her, something I think everyone felt, that helped you see that maybe there was good in the world, that maybe there was hope. But I couldn't tell Momiji that.

"I don't know," I said, continuing to kick rocks. "W-Whatever though, it's not important. Let's keep rehearsing."

"Alright, Kyo."

From the corner of my eye, I could see Momiji slowly shake his head, a big smirk on his face.

When the play was exactly one week away, Ayame announced that drama club rehearsal would be everyday and that there would be a run-through of the entire production on Friday and Saturday (so that meant no tutoring at the middle school that weekend). The hustle and bustle of getting everything ready for the play was exciting a lot of people. Personally I couldn't care less, especially once I saw what my costume looked like. It was hot enough being on the stage under the bright lights, but the fact that I had to wear a long-sleeved button down shirt—with a weird tail thing, no less—long pants, and boots just didn't appeal to me at all. Unfortunately, there was no backing out at that point.

Kagura told me that she was going to attend the play with Momiji. She had said she was going to borrow her mother's camera and everything, much to my dismay. And knowing her, she was going to take a lot of pictures. Shishou was also going and was bringing his assistant, Kunimitsu, who helped run the dojo he owned. He was also like an uncle to me. Everybody and their brother were coming to see me 'star' in the play and I couldn't have been more annoyed.

Tohru was ecstatic. She had mentioned that only her grandfather was attending, but that she wanted to do the best she could to make him proud, which didn't surprise me. I had to admit, she did pretty well rehearsing her lines all those times we were at her house with the Yankee and the psychic. She probably _was_ the best pick to play the part of Cinderella.

Finally the night of the play arrived. I can't say I was thrilled, more like anxious. I was a little nervous about forgetting any of my lines, mostly because I didn't want to make myself look like an idiot in front of a big audience. Backstage was as chaotic as one could be on the opening night of a show so I kept my distance from everyone and stayed on the side because I didn't make an appearance until the third scene (which was the ball scene). When it came, I braced myself and headed onstage.

When the curtain opened I was blinded by bright beams of light. Before me was a vast sea of darkness, which I guess made me feel slightly more comfortable because I couldn't see the audience at all. I took a deep breath before I had to recite my first line.

You know how the story goes. At the ball, Prince Charming is supposed to dance with a few girls, including the evil step sister of Cinderella (who was played by the psychic, unfortunately). So I did as I was directed—awkwardly and unwillingly, however—until the part where Prince Charming's assistant encourages him to dance with an unrecognizable girl that shows up at the party. I heard the crowd draw a breath right when it was Tohru's cue to come on stage. On my cue, I turned around to see her.

And then my jaw dropped a little.

Tohru stood a few feet away from me, in a way I never saw her before, dressed in a light purple gown. It was puffy and long, but fit on her so well, and was finished with white gloves that were almost the whole length of her slender arms. Her brown hair—which was always worn down and straight in ribbons at school—was set in light curls that bounced on her shoulders as she walked, and I remember seeing a hint of glitter in it that sparkled under the stage lights. She wore very little makeup, only enough to bring out the softness of her facial features, and she looked at me with a small smile and pink cheeks. She didn't look like the girl I grew up with, or the girl I had recently come to know. Instead she looked like … an angel.

I was at loss for words. I racked my brain for any thought as to what I was supposed to do that moment while sweat started to collect on my forehead and around my neck. Tohru began walking toward me and I felt panic suddenly engulf me. My mind had gone completely blank with no recollection of what I was scripted to do or say next. I managed to catch a glance backstage, behind Tohru, and could see Ayame flailing his arms and mouthing something. But my eyes went immediately back to Tohru, and I could see the look of concern growing on her face. Everyone seemed to realize that something was wrong.

Before I could stop myself, I said that first thing that popped in my head.

"You're beautiful," I breathed. And I said it with such tenderness and sincerity in my voice that pretty much everyone from Shishou, my friends, and the strangers all in the audience, to the people backstage and onstage, and Tohru as well, knew that I meant it entirely.

* * *

Please review! And thank you so much for taking the time to read. See you soon!

- Swaying Cherry Blossoms


	6. Feelings

Hello! Sorry this chapter took long to come out. For some reason I just got distracted so easily while writing, so it's almost as if this was dragged out for me, but it's finally up! Thank you so much for all the reviews of the last chapter, I really appreciate the feedback! This chapter is solely from the book, but instead of it being Christmas I made it the New Year because in the Fruits Basket manga, not once is there ever a reference to Christmas, and I want to stay as true to the manga as I can while at the same time sticking with the plotline of _A Walk to Remember_. Oh, and I'll say this now, even though it won't make sense until you're reading: ¥825 is about $8, ¥1500 is about $15, ¥3000 is about $31, ¥2200 is about $23, and ¥23000 is about $242. Now without further ado, please enjoy chapter six of "Her Miracle"!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket (created by Natsuki Takaya), the novel A Walk To Remember (written by Nicholas Sparks), or the movie _A Walk To Remember_ (directed by Adam Shankman). I do, however, own thirteen of the English released volumes of Fruits Basket and all of the DVDs, a copy of A Walk to Remember, and a copy of the DVD.

* * *

"Her Miracle"

by Swaying Cherry Blossoms

**- - - - - - -**

**Feelings**

_Feelings are much like waves, we can't stop them from coming but we can choose which ones to surf_.

- Jonatan Mårtensson

The play turned out to be a huge success. After it was over that night, cast members and people from the audience bombarded Tohru and I once we both left backstage. "Magnificent, absolutely stunning!" Ayame sang. "You both were perfect choices for the leads! This was the most marvelous play I have ever directed!"

"Tohru, you did great!" the Yankee cheered once she got a hold of Tohru in the chaotic crowd of people outside the school auditorium. The freak, who was next to her, nodded in agreement. "And you looked adorable; you definitely stole the spotlight tonight!"

"Oh, t-thank you, Uo-chan!" a bashful Tohru said. "But I think everyone did fantastic!" She turned her head to me. "Kyo-kun was a wonderful Prince Charming! I'm sure all the girls at school are going to swoon over him now!" I turned my head away quickly and grunted, but mostly to hide my blushing face.

"Kyo!" I heard someone call my name. Momiji's face suddenly appeared in midst of the crowd, coming in my direction. "Good job!" he said once he finally reached me. "You did pretty well considering you're not really that fairytale prince type, huh?" He laughed. "Oh, you did really well too, Tohru!"

"Thank you, Momiji-kun!" she replied happily, smiling. "And thank you for coming to see it! Kyo-kun's very lucky to have a supportive friend like you!" Momiji grinned as if to say 'I know'. "By the way," he began. "Kagura went home. She said she wasn't feeling so well." He shrugged. "She seemed fine when we got here, but maybe she was tired or something…But hey, I'll see you tomorrow Kyo, okay?" I nodded and gave him a light punch on the shoulder before he left, waving to Tohru and me before disappearing in the ocean of swarming heads.

Tohru's grandfather was the next to make it over. I could see his eyes were a little red and glassy, clearly from crying, but he was still all smiles as he opened his arms to envelope Tohru in a hug. "You did beautiful, Tohru-san," he spoke into her hair. "I'm very proud of you." He looked up to me. "You as well, Kyo-san, gave a very good performance. All of your hard work paid off."

It was a good ten minutes before the commotion settled down and Tohru and I were able to make our way out. She was getting a ride home from her grandfather and I was driving myself home because Shishou had previous engagements to fulfill regarding the dojo and had said he was arriving to the play late (he had most likely gone home because he probably expected that it was going to be a mess outside the auditorium afterwards).

"Kyo-kun," Tohru said softly, almost shyly, as we both headed to the parking lot outside the school. I glanced at her and saw a look of authentic admiration in her eyes, which gave me a weird sensation in my stomach. "Y-yeah?" I answered, raising an eyebrow while trying to look as cool as possible. She took a step toward me, clasping her hands. "I want to thank you so much for going through with this. You put in so much effort and you really progressed quickly the first few days. I-I know you normally wouldn't volunteer for things like this, but I have to say that I'm very lucky to have had the chance to do the play with you…I don't think I would have had it any other way!"

It was dark out, probably about thirty minutes past ten o'clock, and there was no light except the one that shone from the dim lamppost above us. The moon was in its full phase that night and it glimmered behind Tohru. She still had her makeup on from the play and her hair was the same. I found myself staring at her, almost in wonder, and I remember thinking that was really was very beautiful. She continued speaking, but I couldn't really comprehend, only because I was seemingly distracted by that simple, yet glorious, aspect of her.

"… just wanted to thank you, again, because without you I don't think the play would have been as successful as it was!" The sudden burst of enthusiasm in her voice snapped me back to reality. "Oh, r-right," I stammered. "Your welcome."

As a car pulled up to the curb—which, when I managed to get a good look at the driver, was a woman, with Tohru's grandfather in the passenger seat—Tohru said goodnight to me and waved as she got in the car. I gave a short wave back and watched as the car drove off, taking Tohru with it.

As I walked to my car, which was the only one left in the lot, I tried to ignore the fact that _I_ wanted to drive Tohru home myself.

For the next few days, everyone was talking about the play in school and around town. Many people I didn't know would come up to me and say something like, "Hey, good job Prince Charming!" I was glad it was over with, but I wasn't enjoying all the attention the aftermath brought.

The principal, who also witnessed my performance, had excused me from my custodial services after school as well as the tutoring sessions on Saturdays. "From the looks of it Sohma," he had told me, "You've come around since that incident. You took the challenge I put in front of you and made the most of it. Nice work."

I discovered that I had become drawn to Tohru. Everywhere around school I found myself looking for her or going different places as an excuse to see her. Besides for lunch, where I remained sitting with Momiji, Kagura, Rin, and Haru—mainly because I was still afraid of what they would think—I basically always went out of my way to come across Tohru.

One day, about two weeks after the play, I had 'coincidentally' bumped into Tohru in the library after school. She was happy to see me, but I didn't take that personally because she was always happy to see anyone. She asked me how I was doing, like she usually did, and mentioned that she was going to collect the jars we had put out in different locations around town to raise money for the orphanage. It immediately sparked in my mind to offer her a ride as an excuse to spend time with her, but I didn't want to sound too desperate or willing, so I casually mentioned that I could drive her if she wanted because some of the spots _were_ a little too far for her to walk. "Oh, you don't have to go through the trouble!" she protested. "I don't mind walking! I wouldn't want to bother you with it."

I wanted to explain to her that no, it wouldn't be a bother, and that I was speaking truthfully when I said that I could drive her. But I wasn't brave enough to do that. "It's not a big deal," I said. "I've got nothing going on today."

"Thank you so much, Kyo-kun! This will really mean a lot to the children at the orphanage!"

"Honda-san?" the librarian poked her head from behind a bookcase we were standing next to. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but would you be a dear and stay until around six o'clock today to help me put books and catalogues away?" Right away I could tell that Tohru wanted to help, but she turned to me and then back to the librarian, probably to politely decline and say that she had duties for the orphanage to take care over.

"I'll take care of the jars Tohru," I quickly said without thinking. Tohru's eyes widened a bit in surprise, but then she smiled. "If you would Kyo-kun, I would be so happy. Thank you again, it really is kind of you!"

So after school I found myself driving around town, collecting the jars that we had put out about four weeks prior. I had no idea what I was thinking, or what made me do what I did. I think it was because I found that I would do anything if it made Tohru react the way she did, smiling and being happy. It really _was_ weird for me. I had never gone out of my way like that to make someone happy, even Kagura when I was dating her. Maybe it was the way that even such tiny things, the littlest acts of kindness, could simply brighten Tohru's face and fill it with light.

It took about three hours—Tohru had put more jars out on the weekends when she could—but I managed to collect them all. When I got home I made several trips back and forth to my car to get them and bring them to my room so I could count the money. Shishou, who was home from the dojo early, was slightly confused but didn't say anything. I think he must have caught a glimpse of a label on one of the jars (they had said 'Help brighten the New Year for a child in need … Please make a donation to the Orphanage at Higashine today) because I saw him smile to himself. I think he eventually had an idea of what I was doing.

I had poured each jar separately on the floor and counted the amount of yen in all of the piles, recording the earnings down as I went. The numbers were not impressive: the jar from the candy store had about ¥825, the jar from the barbershop had ¥1500, the jar from the post office had ¥3000, and one of the jars Tohru had dropped off on her own had about ¥2200. All of the other jars were empty. I stared disappointingly at the ungenerous piles of donations and thought about how happy Tohru was when she talking about helping the orphans out for the New Year. Surely ¥7525 wasn't going to buy even at least one gift for each child. And I hated to have to be the one to bring such news to Tohru … I put the yen back in their respective jars and placed them on my bookshelf, then headed out to do some training.

"Kyo-kun, this is wonderful!" Tohru exclaimed the next day after school. We were sitting in the dining room at her house, yen scattered all over the table in separate piles. "There's almost a total of ¥23000 in donations! I can't believe it!" Tears began welling up in her eyes and her smile was as bright as could be. It really was touching to see how much she cared for those orphans, and at that moment I knew what I had done was the right thing to do.

"I wonder how so much money was raised like that? I've never seen a turnout like this before!"

"Maybe … people are just in the spirit … for the New Year, or whatever." I shrugged my shoulders, not wanting to get Tohru anymore emotional than she already was, or to blow my cover. "Look, just be happy that people actually donated something. A lot of people normally don't." She nodded, wiping the tears from her face. "Oh, I know, Kyo-kun. I'm just so happy though! Because now not only can we get a present for all of the children, we can buy them new school supplies! A lot of their supplies are really old so it would be great if they could have newer, up-to-date things." I fiddled with the hem of my shirt, pondering for a response. "Well then, I guess they'll have new stuff now too ..."

I looked at Tohru out of the corner of my eye, and she was smiling. Maybe it was the smile itself, or the fact that the smile was for me, but something at that very moment made my heart begin to race. I felt my face get hot, a sensation that I had gotten used to feeling when I was around her, and I took a deep breath to keep myself intact. Suddenly, Tohru reached out her hand.

"Kyo-kun …"

She gently placed it on mine, which had been idly positioned on the table. She was slightly blushing as well, but the look on her face was sweet and innocent and angelic all at the same time. I could feel the corners of my lips moving upward, but this time I didn't hold back. "Nn? What is it?" Her blush grew deeper and she began to stammer, which I thought was cute. "Ah! Um, that is … T-Thank you for picking up the jars! It was a very nice gesture of you!" I shook my head. "No problem." And I meant it. Even if that meant I didn't have any money of my own left over, it was worth it to see her happy the way she was.

"W-Would you like to come with me to bring the presents to the children on New Year's Eve?" she asked abruptly. Before I had the chance to answer, Tohru immediately began to babble as if she had said something wrong. "That is, if you don't have any plans with your family or friends! I-I know it's a lot for me to ask of you, but if you aren't doing anything, you're welcome to come!"

"Um … Sure," I replied. The truth was, Momiji, Kagura, Haru, Rin, and I always hung out at the sushi bar every New Year's and counted the last seconds of the year together. But the end of that year was different, and I had a feeling that the upcoming one would be different too, because I was different. Because miraculously, over the past two months I had come to know Tohru more, it helped me. It helped me grow up, have more consideration for other people, and it helped me to slowly bring down some of the walls I had so forcefully put up to keep other people from getting too close to me. And I wanted so much more of it that I could not help but just want to be by Tohru's side as much as possible.

"R-really?! You'll come?!" Tohru's excited voice broke me from my thoughts. "Yeah, I just said I would, didn't I?" I said back. Giggling, Tohru nodded and clasped her hands together. "Thank you, Kyo-kun! This makes me so happy! And I know it will do the same for all of the children, too!"

I didn't say anything after that, I only looked away to hide the blush that had crept across my cheeks.

I had decided to tell the others that Shishou and I were going out of town to visit some of his friends for the New Year. I wasn't fond of lying to them, but I felt that it was the only way out because if I had told them I was going to the orphanage with Tohru … Well, you know how it would probably have ended up. Anyway, they bought it and that was that. It went a lot better than I expected it to (I was, however, right about Kagura's reaction: she was all upset and half-threatened me to come, but I told her I couldn't disrespect Shishou's wishes).

New Year's in Higashine was a pretty big deal. There were all sorts of decorations all around town, different activities going on, and every business—except most restaurants—remained closed for the multiple-day celebration. I myself didn't care too much for it, but basically every other person in town did.

I had offered to pick up Tohru the night we were going to the orphanage. To my slight surprise though, the Yankee and psychic were there waiting with her. I guess I just forgot they would probably coming, but I have to admit that I was a little disappointed … I kind of wanted to spend the New Year with Tohru alone, even if we were going to be surrounded by children.

"Hey Kyon," the Yankee said as she got in the backseat of my car. "Yes, hello," the psychic added. I shuddered at the sound of her voice.

I looked out of the front passenger window to see Tohru walking toward the car. She had several shopping bags in her hands, which I was sure were filled with wrapped presents. It looked like it was too much for her to carry, so I got out of my car and attempted to take a few from her, but she resisted. "Oh, no, it's alright Kyo-kun! I can carry them all!"

"Don't be so stubborn," I said, managing to take all of them from her hands, ignoring the slight jump in my stomach when my own hands brushed hers. "I'll put them in the trunk. Just get in the car." And she did, without any protest.

It had begun to snow by the time we got to the orphanage. The streets and sidewalks were dusted with white, crunching beneath our feet as we walked into the building. It was warm and lively inside the orphanage, and we were told by the same woman at the front desk from the previous time I was there that the festivities were being held in the dining hall, which was on the same floor. When we walked in we were greeted by everything from small children to joyous music. Kisa, the little girl who was so attached to Tohru, immediately got up from her place on the floor to give Tohru a hug, and after that Tohru basically belonged to the children for most of the evening, because they all stayed glue to her side.

Because I preferred not to really spend my entire New Year's with the Yankee and psychic, I reluctantly sat with Tohru on the floor as she did a puzzle with the kids. I didn't participate, I just watched. I watched as Tohru's hair flowed as she leaned forward to put a piece of the puzzle in its place, I watched as her smile grew at the sound of the children's laughter, I watched the twinkle of her eyes under the fluorescent lighting … I watched as Tohru was just … _Tohru_.

"Onee-chan!" one of the little boys suddenly called out. "Can we open our presents now?!"

"Keitaro-chan," said one of the caretakers said sternly. "Please be patient and let Tohru-san decide when to give out the presents."

"Oh, it's alright! They can open them now!" Tohru insisted. She got up and retrieved the big shopping bags she had been carrying out of her house. The children all jumped up and scampered over, forming a tight circle around her. Little arms began reaching, hoping to snag the biggest present they could get. "Why don't we all sit down and I'll hand them out to everyone?" Tohru suggested. "Each present is special for every different person, so everyone will be happy with what they receive!"

"What a great idea," the caretaker said. She began to guide the children towards the rug in the back corner. "Did you hear that, kids? Tohru-san said that each present was picked out especially for every one of you!" And with that, the children all hurried happily to the back of the room and sat down. Tohru sat on a stool before them and began pulling presents from the shopping bags and calling out names.

The children were really very happy. All of them seemed to love their gifts, many of the girls receiving dolls, jump ropes, and sidewalk chalk, and many of the boys receiving small toy cars, tool sets, and comic books. By the time they were all done opening presents, it was ten minutes until the New Year. The children all played with their new toys together.

"Do you know what you're going to wish for this year?" the Yankee asked Tohru as the four of us sat together at a table. The caretakers had put refreshments out for us and at that moment we were sipping from steaming cups of herbal tea. The Yankee's question made me think of Tohru's list of ambitions, and I began wondering if maybe she would wish for something off of the list. I usually never made wishes for the New Year, only because I never believed they would come true. For a few years after my mother passed away when I was little, I always wished for her to come back. When she never did, I gave up on believing that wishes could come true.

Tohru nodded in response to the Yankee's question. "Yes! My wish is all set. How about you, Uo-chan?"

"Yep, I've had this wish picked out for a while now. What about you, Hanajima?"

"Yes, my wish is ready."

"Kyon?" I looked up from my cup of tea and scowled. "I don't make wishes. Wishes don't come true, they're just a bunch of lies and a complete waste of time."

"You really think that, Kyo-kun?" Tohru asked innocently. Not wanting to upset her, I tried to reform what I had said. "It's not that, it's j—"

"Eh, leave him alone, Tohru," the Yankee said. "I wouldn't put it past him to not be into that kind of stuff."

"Well," Tohru began, her voice in high spirits, "If Kyo-kun would maybe rethink his decision and try to make a wish, who knows?! Maybe this year will be different for you and your wish will come true!"

"Whatever." I shrugged.

"Two more minutes!" a girl cried out.

As everyone gathered together in a circle, my thoughts began to churn. Would it really have killed me to attempt to make a wish? I hadn't tried for about ten years or so, and it certainly wouldn't have hurt if I decided just then to make one. Standing next to Tohru, I felt that I did have a reason to believe. She was that kind of person who gave you that feeling, that feeling of thinking that anything was possible.

"One minute left!" The children began to clap and sing.

But what would I wish for? There really wasn't anything in particular that I desired at that moment. Maybe a new car, if that was even possible, or better grades so I could up my chances of getting into medical school. But there wasn't really one thing that stuck out in my mind.

"Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! …"

_I wish …_

"… Six! Five! Four! …"

I looked over at Tohru, who was clapping and counting along with everyone else.

"… Three! Two! …"

_I wish …_

"Happy New Year!"

The whole room burst in an uproar of cheers and laughter. All of the children, as well as the caretakers, Tohru, the Yankee, and the freak, began hugging one another and wishing each other a happy New Year. I stood still in the midst of all the chaos, wondering …

Tohru's voice brought me back to reality. "Happy New Year, Kyo-kun!" As I looked down at her face, which shone with pure happiness, I found myself smiling back at her. I knew that New Year was going to be a different year. And she was going to be the reason for all of it. "Happy New Year, Tohru," I said to her.

I then wondered how I could have ever fallen in love with a girl like Tohru Honda.

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Thank you for reading! Please don't forget to review ... It really helps as motivation when I have writer's block!

- Swaying Cherry Blossoms


	7. Epiphany

Yay, it's chapter seven! Thank you for all of the great reviews on chapter six, they all warmed my heart so much! I'm really happy with the way this chapter turned out. I gave it the name 'Epiphany' because Kyo sort of has one all throughout this chapter. You'll know what I mean once you read, I guess. And if anyone didn't notice that Kyo was the one who put the extra money in the jars, then I'm sorry for not making it so clear, haha. Well, onto chapter seven. I hope you all like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket (created by Natsuki Takaya), the novel A Walk To Remember (written by Nicholas Sparks), or the movie _A Walk To Remember_ (directed by Adam Shankman). I do, however, own thirteen of the English released volumes of Fruits Basket and all of the DVDs, a copy of A Walk to Remember, and a copy of the DVD.

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"Her Miracle"

by Swaying Cherry Blossoms

- - - - - - -

**Epiphany**

_It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are._

- e.e. cummings

When did it start? Even today, I still cannot answer that question. I can't remember when the exact moment I started loving her was, or if it was gradual or even after the first time she spoke to me. Either way, it doesn't matter. What matters is that I fell in love with Tohru Honda … And I fell hard.

I found myself doing simply anything that would make her smile. Whether it be making visits to the orphanage or just opening a door for her, I would do it in a heartbeat. Never in my life up to that point though had I ever thought I would be in love with a girl like her, but I guess anything can happen, right?

Tohru just had this certain effect on me. Without even realizing it, she had so much control. She could say one little thing, or even just smile, and my head began to spin. She left me at loss for words and my feelings like a conundrum. Such a small, polite girl, yet she had such power over a harsh person like me.

I had decided to start the new year off on a good note … I went to visit Yuki in the hospital. He was fully recovered at that point, but I had heard that the doctors wanted to keep him there for an additional week while he was still starting out his new medication. I was a little nervous about going to see him, mainly because I felt ashamed, but if I wanted to turn over a new leaf I had to start somehow. Plus, it was my fault he was there in the first place.

I remember that day very clearly; it was one of the first times I had ever truly apologized to someone, besides the time I had apologized to Tohru when I was mean to her. I hesitantly knocked on the doorframe of Yuki's room, watching him as he gazed out of the window from his bed. He turned with a smile on his face, possibly expecting one of the nurses, and when he saw me his smile immediately faded. He averted his gaze to back outside the window, his mouth set in a firm line. "Oh," he said blandly. "It's you."

"Yeah, um …" I shoved my hands in my pockets, speechless. After a few awkward moments I finally found it in myself to speak again. "Can … Can I come in?"

A long pause. "I guess."

I stepped gingerly into Yuki's room. Hospitals always made me uncomfortable, and the fact that I was doing something that I also was uncomfortable with made me very nervous. I mean, I didn't expect Yuki to accept my apology or even talk to me, but I was nervous about how it was all going to play out.

"I, um, heard you're doing better."

Yuki still stared out the window, motionless and expressionless.

"Er, Happy New Year."

Still nothing. I sighed.

"Look," I began, growing irritated. "None of us—Momiji, Kagura, Haru, Rin, and I—had any intentions of this happening. We just like to poke fun at the new guy once in a while. I mean, you _did_ show interest in fitting in with us, and that's the price you gotta pay. It's not fun, you know. Actually …" I stopped for a minute, thinking through what I was going to say. I had never told anyone, not even Tohru, what I told Yuki. It was slightly embarrassing, but I found myself just pouring everything out to him, probably because it was almost as if I wasn't talking to anyone since he wasn't responding to me.

"Actually," I continued. "I hate being friends with them. Everything I do, I have to get scrutinized. It's like they look down on me and pick at me all the time. I can't even openly be friends with …" I shook my head, avoiding that topic of conversation, only because Yuki would have no idea who I was talking about if he was even listening. "Anyway, I hate it. Momiji is the only one I can really count on. The others just like to put people down to feel better about themselves."

Yuki shifted in his bed and I could see him looking at me from the corner of his eye. His face was still expressionless, but I was relieved that I at least had his attention.

"So I just came here to say that I … I'm sorry, okay?" The words made my tongue sting, but at the same time the relief felt wonderful. It was the same relief I had felt when I apologized to Tohru. I guess that was why apologizing was the right thing to do, because it made not only the person you apologized to feel better, but it made yourself feel a lot better as well.

I waited for Yuki to show any sort of response. I had practically just poured my heart out to him, saying things I normally would have never said to anyone. Even a change in his facial expression would have satisfied me, but instead I got nothing. Absolutely nothing. I sighed and began to edge toward the door, giving up. When I reached it, I added, with my back turned to Yuki, "You know, I made that jump once too."

"… Did it hurt?"

I stopped in the middle of the doorway and slowly turned around. Finally, Yuki was facing me. His mouth was still set in a firm line, but at least I had gotten him to speak. I leaned against the doorframe with a slight smirk on my face as I stared at the linoleum floor. "Like hell," I said.

"Good," I heard Yuki say softly. It hit me a little hard, but I knew I deserved it. I looked up at him and saw him staring at his lap, shaking his head. "When I first met you, I actually thought I wanted to be your friend," he admitted. "After what happened, I immediately regretted it. But now, I can tell you're a little different from the others … You're the only one who came to visit me."

"Yeah well …" I rubbed the back of my neck, a little embarrassed. "I've changed a little. I don't think I'm the same person I was that night. I've grown up a little since then, thanks to … Someone …"

Yuki looked up at me. I saw a glimmer of something unidentifiable in his eyes, but I could tell it wasn't anything I should have been worried about. He then nodded. There was a sudden rift of silence between us following that. I can't say that it was an awkward silence, but it definitely wasn't comfortable either. I decided then it was a good time to leave, and left hoping that things would be a little better. "So … I'll see you when you come back to school?" Yuki continued nodding. "Yeah," he said simply. He waved as I exited the room.

As I left the hospital, I was overcome by a sense of sudden reprieve; I don't think I had ever felt so good in my entire life. Apologizing like that, admitting that I was wrong and taking the blame for something that I knew I had done … It released me. It was almost like I was reborn in a way.

We had a few days off for the celebration of the New Year, so when we went back to school everyone was talking about the little break. While in lunch on the day we got back, Momiji had asked me how my trip with Shishou went. My mind was wandering at that moment, however, wondering where Tohru might have been. When I responded with a "What trip?" he and the others looked at me questioningly. Kagura raised her eyebrows. "You know, the trip you went on with Shihan?"

"Oh, that trip," I remembered. I shrugged. "It was okay." Then I let my mind go back to Tohru. Thinking she might have been in the library, I got up from my seat. "I just remembered; I have to work on something in the library."

"The library? Since when do you willingly go to the library?" Haru asked suspiciously. "What?" I shot back. "You got a problem with me actually wanting to do well on my homework?"

"Take a pill, Kyo," Rin said, defending Haru. She tossed back her hair and pushed her tray of lunch away from her, which was untouched as usual. "Besides, Kagura and I have some things to take care of, don't we?"

"Oooh, you're right! We do!" Kagura agreed, getting up as well and swinging her cat-shaped bag onto her back. She gave us a wave. "We'll see you guys later!" As they headed out, Momiji made a curious face. "I wonder what they're up to?"

"Beats me," Haru said.

"Right … Well, I'm going too," I said. "I'll catch you guys later, I guess." I gave them a weak wave and left the cafeteria. In the hallway, I spotted Kagura and Rin walking a few feet ahead of me. Their heads were bent over a little bit, so I assumed they were looking at something, and Kagura was giggling. They then branched off into what looked like an art room, but I just continued walking to the library.

I couldn't find Tohru anywhere. I looked down all the aisles of books and catalogues, around the librarian's desk, and even in the back where chairs and tables were set up for reading and studying. I double checked also, making sure I didn't miss her, but still no luck. While I was there, though, I did manage to find a book that I really did need for a homework assignment, so I checked it out and then read it by myself at a table. Since I had a good amount of time left in the period, I stayed there for a while and almost finished my assignment. It wasn't until a conversation I overheard between two guys sparked my interest, and I drew my attention away from my homework and listened.

"Yo, did you _see_ this?!" one guy laughed as he handed a piece of paper to his friend. The other guy laughed as well. "No, this is hysterical though! Where the hell did you get this?!"

"That girl Rin was outside of the art room handing it out. You know, the hot third year going out with that first year Hatsuharu? She has really long black hair …"

"Oh yeah, I know who you're talking about. Damn, she sure looks good in that uniform."

As their topic of conversation converted to Rin, I craned my neck to see what was on the piece of paper they were holding. When I saw it, my insides began to boil. I became furious. I shot up and out of my chair, leaving everything behind me as I ran out of the library. Sure enough, when I approached the art room I saw Rin standing outside holding a stack of papers in her hand. When she heard me coming, she turned around, ready to give me a sheet from the pile. Her look of amusement quickly turned into one of horror as she saw it was me. I snatched the piece of paper right out of her hand, ripping it to shreds and throwing the bits in her face. "What the fuck?!" I shouted, my voice thundering through the halls. "Is this some kind of sick joke?!"

"Kyo, it's noth—"

"Nothing? You call that _nothing_?! Where's Kagura?!" I couldn't keep a hold of my temper.

"She went down to the cafeteria … Kyo! Just wait a minute!"

Ignoring Rin, I hurried to the lunch room. The anger that was welling up inside of me was so intense I thought I was going to explode at any given second.

I heard laughter once I was outside of the cafeteria. Inside, I saw that everyone in the room was gathered in a circle, with a few heads standing in the middle. I shoved my way through the crowd of people and came face to face with Haru, Kagura, and Momiji. Tohru was standing in front of them, her eyes head bowed down. The room immediately became quiet after I arrived and Kagura's and Momiji's faces both changed from mock to fright as they stared at me. I grabbed another one of the fliers from a guy behind me and stomped over to the three low-lives, Haru in particular because he still found the whole situation amusing.

"So, I didn't know that all of this," he chuckled, pointing to the figure on the paper, "Was underneath that." He gestured to Tohru. The image on the flier was the body of a rather pudgy woman in a two-piece bathing suit, but glued onto the woman's head was a picture of Tohru from the play, clearly cut from a Polaroid photo, and above it 'Buddha Worshipper' was written neatly in kanji. I grinned for a split second, pretending to find fun in the picture also, then I raised my fist and laid it hard and swift right into Haru's face. Everyone in the cafeteria let out a soft gasp.

This sent Haru into his Black phase.

"Are you serious?!" He laughed, a hint of scorn in his words. "Who's side are you on anyway?! Are you ditching us for your little girlfriend over there?" His eyes were raging with anger, but I wasn't afraid of him. Nothing could hold me back from just jumping on him and knocking the daylight out of him. "Don't deny it, Kyo ... You _know_ you've been hanging around her too much, and you _know_ that we can tell something's up! So whaddya gonna do? Ditch us for _her_, that goody-two-shoe-Buddha-loving—"

I punched him again, this time sending blood shooting out of his nose. Kagura covered her eyes and Momiji rushed to Haru, who was now kneeling over and covering his nose. He shoved Momiji away with his free hand, then lifted it up and pointed it to me. "We're done," he muffled under his covered nose. "We're done forever!" I held my hands up in agreement, still fuming, but I backed up and turned to Tohru. She had shielded her eyes as well, but her shoulders were shaking from sobs. I gently put an arm around her and pushed our way through the group of people so we could leave the cafeteria, ignoring Momiji as he called my name. We were met by Rin, who was standing outside of the doorway. I glared at her and walked right by, with Tohru still under my arm, and didn't say a word to her.

I had led Tohru outside into the chilly winter afternoon. She shivered a bit so I wrapped my arm a little tighter around her. I let her cry some more, to get all of her sadness out. When she finally calmed down and hiccupped, I let my own frustration out.

"I-I can't believe they did this to you," I yelled, my voice trembling from my rage. "I'm so sorry, Tohru. If it wasn't for me, none of this would've happened … I had _no_ idea Kagura and Rin were up to this, I—" My free hand balled into a tight fist and I clenched my jaw in anger, wishing I could just punch them all in the face at that moment. I couldn't even speak, I was so mad. Seeing Tohru cry like that, all because of something my so called 'friends' did … It disgusted me. Tohru didn't deserve any of that type of treatment. No one did. I came to learn that the first two months I had spent hanging around her, and I expected to follow that for the rest of my life.

"Come on," I said, calming myself down too. "I'll take you home." I felt Tohru's head nod against my arm and she managed to squeak out an "Okay."

I drove Tohru to her house, stopping my car in front of it. After I switched off the ignition, I looked over at her. Her eyes were puffy and red, but she had stopped crying. She stared at the dashboard while she bit her lip and I could tell she was still upset, which she had every right to be. I couldn't help but stretch out my arm and lay my hand on the back of her head, though. "It'll be okay," I said softly, trying to comfort her. "Don't worry about what those assholes did. They'll get it back someday."

"K-Kyo-kun, they're you're friends, you shouldn't—"

"Shouldn't what?" I scoffed as I drew my arm back, slightly annoyed that Tohru was worried about me speaking negatively of the people that hurt her so much. "I don't care if they're my friends … Or _were_, rather. Tohru, what they did to you was … It was just wrong, and again, I'm sorry. I wish there was something I could do."

"Oh no, Kyo-kun!" Tohru protested, turning her whole body to face me. "You've done enough! You didn't have to drive me home like this, o-or do what you did back there … You're sacrificing so much for me, really, i-it's too much, I—" The tears began to flow rapidly from her eyes again; my head slumped down. "Now why are you crying?!"

"I-I'm sorry! I'm _so_ sorry … For _all_ the trouble I'm causing you!"

I stared at her in disbelief. Was she honestly apologizing to me? She thought she was causing me trouble. Of course, Tohru always thought she was a burden to other people, but to me she was anything but. At that moment I wanted nothing more than to just wrap my arms around her and make all of her worries, tears, and anguish just disappear. But my arms lay frozen in my lap as I watched her cry, all because she thought she was burdening _me_.

"Hey." I finally reached over again, placing my hand on her chin and moving it up to face me. I looked her straight in the eyes, wiping at a tear that had rolled down her cheek and stopped when it collided with my thumb. "Stop crying, will you? There's nothing to cry about anymore. You're being stupid to think that you're burdening me." I dropped my voice down lower and averted my eyes elsewhere, feeling my face turn hot. "Hell, you're probably the only person who isn't a burden to me …" She was silent for a little bit, and I kept my gaze on the rear window of the car. Finally, she whispered, "Thank you." I turned back to her and she was now smiling. It wasn't one of her bright, cheerful smiles, but it was still a smile; still enough of a smile to send my stomach fluttering. "Y-You don't have to thank me, but your welcome," I replied.

I walked Tohru to her porch. I felt bad that I had rushed her out of the school without her coat because she looked really cold as we stood in front of her house, but I really couldn't do anything about it then. Before she went inside, I felt like I had to ask her the question that was screaming in the back of my head. Something in me just wanted to get it over with, only because it felt like the perfect opportunity. I had driven her home, attempted to comfort her, and she had looked at me with that thankful expression on her face. It only seemed appropriate for the moment.

"Um, wait." I stopped her as she was about to slide open the door. "There's, er, something I need to ask you." She smiled again. I was at least glad to see that the redness was beginning to fade from her eyes. "Sure, Kyo-kun."

"Would you … Would you like to go out—with me, that is—on Saturday night?" The question came out slow—I practically dragged it out—but I braced myself for any rejection I was probably going to receive. I mean, I didn't expect for Tohru to have any mutual feelings for me at all, but I wanted to take her out, mainly for my own selfish desires of wanting to always be with her. Her eyes widened at the question, and a dark pink blush crept across her face. She began to stammer like she usually did when she got nervous and that really made me brace myself for a rejection.

"Ah, t-thank you, Kyo-kun! Y-You don't need to take me out, but … Oh! It's not that I don't want to, it's j-just that … Well, Grandpa really doesn't want me going out on d-dates with anyone …"

Oh, so it wasn't her that was really rejecting me. It was the grandfather. Damn.

"O-Okay, no big deal," I said, a little embarrassed at my inquiry. I started off the porch, waving behind to her as I got in my car. "I'll see you tomorrow then. Just remember, don't worry about what happened. You're a lot better than they are, so … Don't sweat it."

"Kyo-kun … I'm sorry." I shook my head. "Like I said, it's no big deal. See ya." I got in my car and drove off quickly, leaving Tohru on her porch. My face still burnt from the humiliation of being rejected, even if it wasn't really Tohru turning me down.

I thought about it as I drove home, then made the abrupt decision of turning down the block before my house to head into town. I could not believe I was going to do what I was about to do, but my foot hit the gas pedal harder and my old car went as fast as it could. When I arrived at my destination, I took a deep breathe before I got out of my car.

As I walked up the steps, I rehearsed what I was going to say in my head. I stood in front of the building for a few moments, sorting out my thoughts, and then I bravely opened the doors to the only temple in the town of Higashine.

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Thanks for reading, and please review! I really would like to see higher numbers of reviews for the story, hopefully passed sixty, so even if you just want to say, 'Hey, great chapter!' then please do. It doesn't take that long, hehe. Thanks again!

- Swaying Cherry Blossoms


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